Need help/suggestions with issues on new mower

[BrandonUK07]

Here are some pics of my new mower. I tested it out yesterday and it performed well. The only 2 problems I saw with it were parts of the lawn left large tire marks (ground was somewhat saturated) and the intensity of the striping was not as intense as I expected. The striping kit weights maybe a pound and the grass pushes it back more than the striping kit pushing the grass. I'm thinking about either putting more weight on the striping kit or bolting it on so tight it barely moves. I have the following 3 questions I need advice on:

1. How can I improve striping?

2. Does the bronco rider attachment cause too many tire tracks or was it just probably due to the saturation of the ground? I weigh 185 lbs BTW.

3. I had a hard time keeping the unit straight. Granted, that was my first time driving the unit, but is there a trick to keeping it mowing straight especially since I'll be striping?

Thanks! See pics attached.

 

[reynoldston]

I see Toro makes a roller that you fill with sand for a striping kit. It looks like it just tows behind your mower. Maybe it would work for you?

 

[BrandonUK07]

I see Toro makes a roller that you fill with sand for a striping kit. It looks like it just tows behind your mower. Maybe it would work for you?

That is only for the 21 inch. I found that bigleaguelawns.com offers good striping kits, but I've already paid for the one I have. I will likely mow a few times with it next year and see how it works.

 

[LandN]

Here are some pics of my new mower. I tested it out yesterday and it performed well. The only 2 problems I saw with it were parts of the lawn left large tire marks (ground was somewhat saturated) and the intensity of the striping was not as intense as I expected. The striping kit weights maybe a pound and the grass pushes it back more than the striping kit pushing the grass. I'm thinking about either putting more weight on the striping kit or bolting it on so tight it barely moves. I have the following 3 questions I need advice on:

1. How can I improve striping?

2. Does the bronco rider attachment cause too many tire tracks or was it just probably due to the saturation of the ground? I weigh 185 lbs BTW.

3. I had a hard time keeping the unit straight. Granted, that was my first time driving the unit, but is there a trick to keeping it mowing straight especially since I'll be striping?

Thanks! See pics attached.

Hi again brandon,nice mower,i like it. if it was me in your shoes,i would have got familiar with the handling of the mower BEFORE i attach the rear stander.a wet saturated lawn is going to affect the tire marks on the lawn during a turn (each rear wheel is powered,right?)practice will improve your turning and straight line performance. the straightness of your cuts don't look that bad.is that mud flap looking device your striper?yes?then i would work on 'like you say' adding weight at the bottom and maybe adding extra length to the flap but not too much so as not to interfere with undercarraige components while you are making short tight turn-a-bouts(if you do).longer thicker grass blades will need extra "oompff" from a striper to lay down the grass more. practice, practice you'll get it. don't worry,looks real nice for your first time.

 

[jmurray01]

That is only for the 21 inch. I found that bigleaguelawns.com offers good striping kits, but I've already paid for the one I have. I will likely mow a few times with it next year and see how it works.

Yeah, that would be a good idea. Some things on a Lawn Mower need running in before they will work at their optimum effectiveness, so you never know, you may find on the next mow, and the next mow after that, the standard of the lawn will improve.

 

[BrandonUK07]

Hi again brandon,nice mower,i like it. if it was me in your shoes,i would have got familiar with the handling of the mower BEFORE i attach the rear stander.a wet saturated lawn is going to affect the tire marks on the lawn during a turn (each rear wheel is powered,right?)practice will improve your turning and straight line performance. the straightness of your cuts don't look that bad.is that mud flap looking device your striper?yes?then i would work on 'like you say' adding weight at the bottom and maybe adding extra length to the flap but not too much so as not to interfere with undercarraige components while you are making short tight turn-a-bouts(if you do).longer thicker grass blades will need extra "oompff" from a striper to lay down the grass more. practice, practice you'll get it. don't worry,looks real nice for your first time.

Yeah that flap plastic piece is the striping kit the dealer sold me. Cost me $100. I'm not too impressed with it yet. The piece only weighs about 1 lb, so when I go over the grass, the grass pushes it back more than the flap pushes the grass down. Definitely going to have to look into making it less mobile either by bolting it tighter or adding more weight to it somehow. But then again, when I tested it out it was the last mow of the season, ground was saturated and no sun. The positives were that the mulching kit did an amazing job. I didn't see any clumps of grass or really any clippings. It also is going to decrease my mowing time in half compared to a 21 in deck and also decrease operator fatigue. Overall, I'm happy with it for the first time, but I do think I would have passed on the dealer's striping kit and I probably would have bought a 48 in for only a few hundred dollars more.